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WASHINGTON — The FBI affidavit accompanying federal charges against the suspected Boston Marathon bomber has revealed new details of the allegations against the two young men accused of unleashing a reign of terror that paralyzed the city of Boston last week.

The April 15 bombings killed three people and wounded nearly 200 others.

An affidavit sworn by FBI Special Agent Daniel Genck lays out what authorities contend happened on that afternoon as thousands of people gathered in downtown Boston to witness one of the world’s great annual long-distance races.

The allegations have not been proven in a court of law.

According to the affidavit, 11 minutes before the first explosion Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, followed immediately by his younger brother Dzhokhar, 19, entered Boylston Street near the marathon finish line at 2:38 p.m. Both men were carrying knapsacks.

Video cameras, the affidavit alleges, show Tamerlan leave his brother around 2:42 p.m. and walk through the crowds toward the finish line. Three minutes later, his brother follows him. He has a cellphone in his left hand and his right hand is hooked under the strap of his knapsack. When he gets to the metal barrier at the finish line, the affidavit says, he slips off his knapsack and lays it at his feet. He stays there for four minutes. At one point he appears to take a picture with his cellphone.

About 30 seconds before the first explosion, he raises his cellphone to his ear and keeps it there for about 18 seconds. Moments later, a video camera shows the crowd around him suddenly reacting to the first explosion.

“Virtually every head turns to the east (towards the finish line) and stares in that direction in apparent bewilderment and alarm,” the affidavit states.

Meanwhile, Dzhokhar, who is referred to as “Bomber Two,” remains calm. He leaves his knapsack on the ground and walks away. A bomb blows up about 10 seconds later.

Genck’s affidavit states that the agent had observed all the camera footage in the area and “can discern nothing in that location in the period before the explosion that might have caused that explosion, other than Bomber Two’s knapsack.”

After the FBI published video photos of the two suspects at 5 p.m. April 18, it’s alleged the two bombers hijacked a vehicle at gunpoint in Cambridge. As the owner sat in his car, “a man approached and tapped on his passenger-side window,” the affidavit states.

When the owner rolled down the window, the affidavit alleges, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, reached in, opened the door and climbed into the car. He is said to have pointed a gun at the victim and stated, “Did you hear about the Boston explosion? I did that.”

It’s alleged Tamerlan then removed the magazine from his gun, showed the victim it was loaded and re-inserted the magazine. “I am serious,” he said. He then forced the victim to drive to a second location where they picked up a man police believe to have been Dzhokhar, who put “something into the trunk of the vehicle,” according to the affidavit.

Tamerlan ordered the victim to sit in the front passenger seat while he got behind the wheel. Dzhokhar sat in the back. The two suspects took $45 from the victim plus his ATM card and password, the affidavit says.

The hijackers drove to a gas station where both of them got out of the car, the FBI alleges. The victim used the opportunity to run away.

Police finally located the stolen car in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where a car chase began during which the hijackers “threw at least two small improvised explosive devices out of the car.” A gunfight broke out. Tamerlan was killed. Dzhokhar escaped in the car, authorities allege, which was found abandoned a short distance away with a “low-grade” explosive device inside. At the scene of the shootout, police also found two unexploded improvised explosive devices.

The affidavit states that the IEDs used in the marathon bombings were “low-grade” explosives that were housed in pressure cookers of the same brand. They had been filled with BBs and nails. The bombs were ignited by a green-coloured hobby fuse.

Police finally found Dzhokhar hiding in a covered boat in Watertown. After shots were fired, he surrendered. He had gunshot wounds to the head, neck, legs and hand.

When the FBI raided his dormitory room at the University of Massachusetts they found “a large pyrotechnic, a black jacket and a white hat of the same general appearance as those worn by Bomber Two at the marathon” the affidavit states.

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